Creating content structure: This is the workshop I’ll be teaching. We’ll talk about how to find and build in structure to your content, for a more reliable user experience, to simplify content operations, to give you more insights into what your audience needs, and to improve opportunities for analytics.

Accessibility: I love this topic so much. Blend Interactive user experience architect Corey Vilhauer shares his insights into how content creators can improve accessibility for all members of your digital audience.

Customer data and journeys: Here’s a topic we could all spend more time on: Using analytics for insights instead of just numbers. Looking forward to this one from Cossette strategy director Jon Crowley.

These kinds of in-depth workshops have been pivotal to my professional development over the years, and I think they will make a big impact for you if you are responsible for content, marketing, or the customer experience in your organization.

Register Today for the Summit on Content Marketing

No matter where you’re going to be May 22-June 2, you can take advantage of this great opportunity. Register for the Summit on Content Marketing today, and you can watch my session on May 31, as well as dozens of others from fantastic content marketers.

I taught a workshop at Content Marketing World this year, called Content Strategy 101. About 40 of us spent the afternoon walking through the elements of content strategy, thinking about audience, strategy, operations, governance and analytics. I’ve got some tips from that workshop I’ll share with you soon, but first I wanted to just give you a peek into those ideas. I was a guest on the Enterprise Marketer podcast while I was at CMW, and I think you’ll enjoy this podcast and gain some insights into using content marketing effectively.

How are you at communications? Chances are, if you read this blog, communication is a critical part of your job. But we’re all overwhelmed and too busy these days — and if you’re like me, that leads to lots of communication problems. For years, I’ve worked on strategies to help myself avoid snafus that pop up when I don’t pay attention to the details. I hadn’t thought about sharing my ideas with anyone else — they were just principles I used to manage my own life.

Earlier this week, I spoke at the Rutherford Cable organization’s breakfast meeting. Cable focuses on women’s leadership and professional advancement. (And full disclosure, I’m the chair-elect of the Board of Directors of the Nashville Cable chapter—but that was actually unrelated to my speaking at Rutherford Cable!)

I speak a fair amount, usually at industry conferences around the country, but this was a general business and civic audience, so I figured they were unlikely to all want to hear about the nuts and bolts of content strategy. However, I know we all face communications challenges, so I put together my thoughts on how to manage those details that trip us up.

In some recent conversations on Twitter, I’ve begun to realize there’s probably a bigger audience for these kinds of ideas. We all struggle with information overload, being pressed for time, and managing multiple streams of communication.

This year’s IA Summit is coming up May 4 – 8 in Atlanta. The IA Summit is a gathering of information architects, user experience designers, content strategists, and all those who work to create and manage information spaces. The theme is “A Broader Panorama,” which seeks to address the change in digital spaces from page-based models to cross-channel, data-dependent, multi-platform, context-aware content presented in ways that benefit users. Everyone who contributes to content needs to understand information architecture so that sites are optimized for findability, understanding, and adaptability. For more information, visit the IA Summit website. As a guest of Creek Content, you can get $50 off the cost of attending the conference (use code CREEKMORE50 when you register here).

Understand when chunking content into semantically rich fields can help

Research and evaluate existing metadata schemas for use on your projects

Why learn about crafting a structured content model? Structured content is extensible content. After this workshop, you’ll be able to analyze your content and see its potential, know where to go for information on external metadata schemas that can help you, and even understand whether the payoff of structuring your content is worth the effort.

It is not necessary to register and attend the full conference to attend a pre-conference workshop. If you are in or near Atlanta, you can register to attend this workshop separately from the conference at the bottom of the form on the website.

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If you’re in health care, insurance, financial services, or another highly regulated field, you don’t need a copywriter. You don’t need another marketer. You need professionals who understand the complex problems you face, and who can help you reach your customers with the information they need to make wise decisions.